Microsoft’s Windows Phone president Andy Lees at the Worldwide Partners Conference once again tried to shoot down hopes for tablets based on Windows Phone 7. The use of the mobile OS would be “in conflict” with Microsoft’s notion of having the full speed of a computer in any design, including truly mobile tablets. He insisted that users would want to do PC-style activities on a tablet and saw Windows 8’s networking and printing support as being important.

“We view a tablet as a PC,” Lees said.

It’s no surprise that I think Microsoft is wrong here. There’s a tectonic shift going on, and they’re in denial. But regardless if you think they’re as wrong as I do, there’s no denying that Microsoft and Apple have a fundamentally different view of the coming decade: more PCs vs. post-PCs.

Lees might as well have said, “We think Apple is fundamentally wrong on the iPad.” But so how does Microsoft rationalize the iPad’s success and popularity?